Poll says 12% of Utahns say they will opt-out of the COVID-19 vaccine

SALT LAKE CITY– Despite the excitement surrounding a vaccine paving a path back to normalcy, there are still people hesitant about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll discovered 12% of Utahns say they will not get the vaccine when given the option. 

The poll surveyed 1,000 Utahn’s that are registered voters, and most of the participates said they would get the vaccine. Poll results indicated 25% of Utahns have already been vaccinated, and 35% said they wanted to be as soon as possible.

Additionally, 12% said they want to see other’s reactions to the vaccine before getting it themselves, and 14% reported they’re in no hurry to get vaccinated.

Lastly, 12% responded to the poll by indicating they won’t receive the vaccine at all.

Poll conductors say they attempted to figure out the vaccine reservations held by the 12% of respondents, but that many of them did not respond to further questioning

However, those who did respond said they’re worried about the side effects, that they didn’t believe the vaccine was necessary, or that they didn’t have faith in the vaccine.  

Lastly, the poll asked participants if they believed Utah’s vaccine rollout plan was fair. There was a consensus among residents: yes. The majority of people, specifically 80%, said “yes,” 11% said they weren’t sure, and nine percent said “no.”

The poll’s results were released Sunday, right before the United States surpassed 500,000 coronavirus deaths.